Colorado Mesa Wins Eight Events, Sets Two Conference Records On Day 3 of RMAC Championships

2026 RMAC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Courtesy: RMAC Sports

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Colorado Mesa University capped a four-win day in the pool by setting a meet record in the 400 medley relay on Day 3 of the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships at El Pomar Natatorium.

The Mavericks lowered the record in the 400 Medley Relay for a fourth consecutive season and won the event for the seventh consecutive championship. Taylar Hooton, Antonia Leese, Kiara Borchardt, and Ada Qunell combined to post a 3:40.78 mark to win the event by nearly three seconds over Colorado School of Mines.

Colorado Mesa nearly swept the day’s five events, claiming individual wins by Kiara Borchardt in the 100 butterfly, Ada Qunell in the 200 freestyle, and Kenya Meyer, who defended her title in the 3-meter diving event.

Colorado School of Mines freshman Anna Bream broke up the host’s clean sweep, winning the 400 individual medley for the Orediggers first win in that event since Kristen Westwater in 1984.

Colorado Mesa extended its lead in the team competition and is in first place with 915.50 points. Colorado School of Mines is second with 663.50 points, and Simon Fraser University is third with 582 points.

Day 4 of the championship begins with preliminary action at 10 a.m. and the men’s 3-meter diving preliminaries at 2 p.m. The all-final session begins at 5:30 p.m. with all the day’s action available to watch on the RMAC Network.

Thursday’s Champions

100 Butterfly: Kiara Borchardt, Colorado Mesa (54.63)
400 Individual Medley: Anna Bream, Colorado School of Mines (4:22.02)
200 Freestyle: Ada Qunell, Colorado Mesa (1:49.54)
400 Medley Relay: Colorado Mesa (3:40.78, Championship Record)
3-meter Diving: Kenya Meyer, Colorado Mesa (508.40)

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Junior Guillaume Guth opened the night session with a championship record in the 100 butterfly, setting the tone for Colorado Mesa University’s sweep of the titles on Day 3 of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Swimming Championships on Thursday at El Pomar Natatorium.

Colorado Mesa’s butterfly group attacked the championship record in the 100-yard distance straight away on Thursday. Senior Oskar Sawicki broke the 10-year-old record in the preliminaries with a time of 46.91. However, his record would not survive the day as Guth roared to a 46.75 and a win in the final.

After that record-setting effort, the Mavericks saw Ben Vester win the 400 individual medley in 3:54.81. Jona Friess followed with a win in the 200 freestyle in 1:37.39, and the CMU 400 medley relay group claimed the day’s final win with a time of 3:12.06 that only missed breaking the record by 0.14 seconds.

Colorado Mesa leads the team competition with 632 points ahead of second-place Colorado School of Mines’ 410.50 points after three days. Oklahoma Christian moved into third and has 235 points.

Day 4 of the championship begins with preliminary action at 10 a.m. and the men’s 3-meter diving preliminaries at 2 p.m. The all-final session begins at 5:30 p.m. with all the day’s action available to watch on the RMAC Network.

Thursday’s Champions

100 Butterfly: Guillaume Guth, Colorado Mesa (46.75, Championship Record)
400 Individual Medley: Ben Vester, Colorado Mesa (3:54.81)
200 Freestyle: Jonas Friess, Colorado Mesa (1:37.39)
400 Medley Relay: Colorado Mesa (3:12.06)

Courtesy: Colorado Mesa Athletics

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—  The Colorado Mesa University Maverick swimming and diving teams combined for eight more event wins, two championship records and a school-record as they continue to dominate the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, which continued Thursday here in the El Pomar Natatorium.

Looking for their eighth straight team title sweep on Saturday, the Mavericks have now won 16 of the meet’s 20 events so far.

The Maverick women claimed four event wins on Thursday and set a RMAC Championship record time of three minutes, 40.78 seconds in the 400-yard medley relay near the end of the night.  They now have 915 ½ team points, extending their lead to 252 points over the Colorado School of Mines, which is in second place of the 9-team meet with 663 ½.

The Maverick men also won four events, including the night-capping relay, and set a pair of RMAC records in the same event throughout the day.  They now have 632 points, good for a 221 ½ point cushion on Mines, who is in turn 175 ½ points ahead of third-place Oklahoma Christian.

The Mavs swept both the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle individual events and also swept both relays.  They also picked up a 400 individual medley relay win from Ben Vester, who took the 200 IM on Wednesday, and the women’s 3-meter diving crown thanks to Kenya Meyer, who successfully defended her RMAC title.

Senior Kiara Borchardt won the 100 fly for the second straight and third time in her career while Maverick newcomer Guillaume Guth won the men’s title in an RMAC Championship time of 46.76 seconds after taking the 50 free gold on Wednesday.  Both were also on the Mavs’ winning relay teams.

Guth also broke his own altitude-adjusted school record in his win and converted time of 46.66.

Meanwhile, the Maverick women went 1-2-3 in the 200 free with Ada Qunell winning her 13th career RMAC title before adding a 14th as the Mavs’ anchor on the medley relay.

Jonas Friess won the men’s 200 free to claim his first RMAC title.

The Mavs then went 1-2-3 in the diving event with Talia Datilio and Jenna Hurley finishing on the podium alongside Meyer.

Taylar HootonAntonia Leese, Borchardt and Qunell then gave the Mavs their seventh straight conference title in the 400 medley relay as the quartet went a tenth of a second quicker than last year’s team that went on to win a second straight NCAA Division II title.

Luka SamsonovAron JonssonOskar Sawicki and Guth then won the men’s half of the relay on Thursday in 3:12.06.

The Mavs’ wins came fast as Borchardt touched in a season-best 54.63 seconds (54.53-altitude adjusted) seconds to take the night’s first event (100 fly) while Qunell, who earned three medals throughout the night, tied Oklahoma Christian’s Vanessa Weatherford for second in 55.44.

Amber Siverts also reached the championship final, taking eighth in 57.15 seconds after turning in a 56.93 second effort during the morning preliminaries.

Guth, who now has four RMAC titles in the last three days, then took the men’s 100 fly, cruising to a time of 46.75 seconds to break the hours-old conference championship record of 46.91 that Sawicki had set in the prelims.  Sawicki then took second in the final, touching in 47.05 seconds.

CMU freshman Micah Moore was also in the final and finished fifth in 48.69 seconds.

Maverick Frenchwomen Melina Giraudeau then claimed the Mavs’ lone medal in the women’s 400 IM, touching third in 4:27.50 while moving in to the No. 5 spot of CMU history with her altitude-adjusted time of 4:22.50.  Haven Hinkle and Gabby DeLuna also qualified for the finals taking seventh and eighth, respectively.

The Mavs then got back to their winning ways in the men’s 400 IM, taking the top four spots.

Vester, who moved up a spot to fourth in CMU history with his time of 3:54.81 (3:49.81-converted) took the gold medal, edging freshman Miles Moran, who picked up the silver with a season-best time of 3:55.44 (3:50.44-converted).  Jonsson was third in 3:58.78 while Moore finished fourth in 3:58.80.  Samsonov also made the final and took seventh in 4:02.58.

In the women’s 200 free, Qunell touched in 1:49.54 to win the title while Hanna Sasivarevic was second in 1:50.05 after finishing the preliminaries in 1:49.90 (1:48.70-converted) to move in to the No. 5 spot of program history.

Meanwhile, Olivia Hansson claimed the bronze medal in 1:51.06.  Abby Uhl also turned in a season-best and improved NCAA Division II “B” cut time of 1:52.07 (1:50.87-converted) to finish fifth while Kendyll Wilkinson finished eighth (1:53.60).

Friess, then turned in his career-best of 1:37.39 (1:36.19-converted) to take the men’s 200 free while moving up two spots to sixth in CMU history and raising his NCAA Championship qualification hopes.

Fellow German Richard Schmiedefeld also made the championship final for the Mavs and took fourth in 1:38.77 (1:37.57-converted).

In diving, Meyer scored 535.40 points in the afternoon preliminary round, just off her RMAC Championship, pool and school record mark of 541.70 from last year’s meet.  She then tallied 508.40 points in the final to claim her fifth career RMAC diving championship.  Talia Datilio took the silver with a career-best of 502.10 points and secured a trip to the NCAA Division II Pre-Championship qualifier while Jenna Hurley finished third with 488.90 points.

Hurley and Meyer had previously secured national qualification.

Fellow Mavericks Mimi Licht (491.60), Emma Lence (487.70) and Juli Holt (443.15) also secured national qualification in the afternoon preliminaries but were not eligible to advance to the finals as they were designated as exhibition divers.

Eleven more events will be contested on Friday, which will feature a swimming preliminary session at 10 a.m., men’s 3-meter diving preliminaries at 2 p.m. and a jam-packed finals session at 5:30 p.m.

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